Friday 04/25/14

House Speaker John Boehner made news Thursday by speaking to a rotary club in his home state of Ohio. Boehner mocked fellow House Republicans for failing to take a vote on immigration reform.

"Here's the attitude. Ohhhh. Don't make me do this. Ohhhh. This is too hard," Boehner whined, as describe in the Cincinnati Enquirer. "We get elected to make choices. We get elected to solve problems and it's remarkable to me how many of my colleagues just don't want to ... They'll take the path of least resistance."

Boehner added, "I've had every brick and bat and arrow shot at me over this issue just because I wanted to deal with it. I didn't say it was going to be easy." http://dld.bz/…

Boehner could get a vote on some type of immigration measure, but it's unclear what such a bill would be. Every bill offered attempting to allow any group of undocumented immigrants to gain legal status usually draws a wrath of inner-party criticism. Lawmakers have offered bills to allow children to stay in the country legally or allow them to join the military and get permanent status. Both proposals divide the GOP caucus.

Agricultural groups have banded together to push for immigration reform that would legalize the one million or so people working on farms that are in the country illegally. The farm lobby also wants a broader guest-worker program that would allow employers to bring in more workers and allow those workers to stay in the U.S. for longer periods of time. While lobbying for legislation, the agricultural groups pushing for immigration reform know better than to get involved in primary battles.

Primaries across the country show at least some Republicans are determined to use any softened stance on immigration against their fellow party members, regardless of whether the race is for a state or federal office. In Nebraska's six-way GOP gubernatorial, state Sen. Beau McCoy is trailing frontrunners, but has centered his ad and political strategy round hammering businessman Pete Ricketts over an "amnesty" position Ricketts had when running for the U.S. Senate eight years ago. McCoy has run ads, created a website and confronted Ricketts about his position in a debate on Wednesday.

In Iowa's GOP primary for U.S. Senate, the candidates said Thursday night they support tougher border measures but no amnesty. Meanwhile, an pro-immigration reform group headed by Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg is running ads against Rep. Steve King in Iowa. King, one of the GOP's most ardent opponents of immigration reform, had criticized a bill by fellow Republican Jeff Denham of California that would allow illegal immigrations who have lived in the U.S. since they were children to join the military and receive permanent residency. Zuckerberg's ads show Latinos in the military criticizing King's stance. King shot back earlier this week: "I am under attack by billionaire Mark Zuckerberg because I am one of the few who will stand up and tell the truth about amnesty,” he said in a statement. “He wants amnesty because it would benefit his multi-billion dollar corporation, but I’m fighting to preserve the Rule of Law. Why would we reward people for breaking our laws? Rewarding law breakers produces more law breakers.” http://dld.bz/…

In Texas, GOP gubernatorial nominee Greg Abbott is reaching out to Latino voters. Dan Patrick, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, has clashed over immigration policy with Latino leaders such as San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro. Patrick wants to focus more on border control while eliminating programs such as allowing in-state tuition for undocumented students. http://dld.bz/…

In Kentucky, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's campaign touts his vote against the comprehensive immigration reform bill last year, especially after McConnell's primary opponent, Matt Bevin, praised the work ethnic of illegal immigrants and said the country needs "healthy immigration." McConnell's team slammed Bevin's comments, saying “Bevin says that illegal immigrants are better workers than law-abiding Americans, who he implies are lazy.” Bevin's spokeswoman had to counter by declaring that McConnell didn't do enough to block last June's Senate vote. http://dld.bz/…

Politico reported Thursday that Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, sent Boehner a letter calling on him to push for an immigration reform bill that includes a path to citizenship, coupled with tighter border-security measures. http://dld.bz/…

Yet, 22 Republican senators also sent President Barack Obama a letter on Thursday to "express our grave concerns" about the administration's policy of not sending people back across the border who are not convicted of other crimes. The senators argue the administration is further weakening immigration enforcement across the country. http://dld.bz/…

What I am afraid of is we are going to see a lot of bad legislation over the next six months that will be enacted with the hopes of re-election over what is the right thing to do. And why does everyone in Ag think that if they make them legal that they won't drop the hoe and pick up a hammer and move to an easier job in town. And I am not scared enough not to call many US citizens lazy, because they are, and I know many Mexicans that get legal will have no problem moving to town and outworking many natural born now employed. And than we will need another wave to fill the Ag jobs they left behind.

Fri Jul 31, 2015 04:17 PM CDTPresident Barack Obama signed off on the temporary bill Friday, but indicated his frustration with Congress over the inability to approve a long-term highway bill. He noted that the lack of a long-term bill makes it hard for governors and mayors to set priorities for roads, bridges, airports and ports.

Thu Jul 30, 2015 10:00 AM CDTA number of agriculture interest groups are among 269 organizations that asked President Barack Obama Wednesday to stop the release of more stringent national ambient air quality standards by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, set for release sometime this year.

Mon Jul 27, 2015 11:35 AM CDTThe White House announced Monday it was launching an initiative highlighting the "American Business Act on Climate Pledge. The effort spotlighted 13 large American companies pushing for action on climate change. The announcement had some emphasis on agriculture, food processing and continued opportunities for landowners to make money through renewable energy, particularly expanded wind production.

Thu Jul 23, 2015 01:44 PM CDTUSDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service is launching a conservation survey of farmers and ranchers to get an idea of what kinds of practices farmers are implementing, according to a news release from USDA.

Wed Jul 22, 2015 02:50 PM CDTEnvironmentalists and others who contend the only way to reduce nutrients runoff into the Gulf of Mexico is through regulation, may not be happy with the release of the final Illinois nutrient loss reduction strategy Tuesday that is a virtual copy of the Iowa strategy hammered on by critics as 'too soft.'

Mon Jul 20, 2015 01:17 PM CDTFor a third-consecutive year a cover crops survey of 1,200 farmers across the country continue to see bumps in corn and soybean yields following the use of cover crops. In addition, the Conservation Technology Information Center Cover Crop Survey recorded an increase in the number of cover crop acres planted nationwide.

Fri Jul 17, 2015 03:08 PM CDTThe Senate Finance Committee on Friday rolled out a package of business tax breaks that the committee will take up on Tuesday. The plan deals with about 50 individual and business taxes that would translate into about $95.6 billion in overall tax breaks for people and companies.

Wed Jul 15, 2015 12:27 PM CDTIn the debate over agricultural market access in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, the European agricultural group Copa-Cogeca has spelled out some conditions its leaders believe need to be met to make the European trade deal a benefit for both sides of the Atlantic.

Mon Jul 13, 2015 11:30 AM CDTI got an email over the weekend from my congressman, an enthusiastic freshman, who is boasting that Congress, as a government agency, has cut its own budget. Other government agencies should do the same.

Thu Jul 9, 2015 01:30 PM CDTA bill that would make significant cuts to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency budget was grounded Thursday, after Republican members objected to an amendment passed by voice vote Tuesday night to ban the Confederate flag at national cemeteries, according to The Hill.

Tue Jul 7, 2015 11:33 AM CDTThe American Farm Bureau Federation sent a letter Monday to every member of the House of Representatives asking lawmakers to "reject any proposals that amend, repeal, defund or otherwise modify or interfere with the Renewable Fuels Standard."

Wed Jul 1, 2015 02:42 PM CDTThe U.S. Agriculture Coalition for Cuba praised the announcement Wednesday by President Barack Obama that the U.S. and Cuba will officially re-establish diplomatic relations on July 20 with the re-opening of respective embassies.

Mon Jun 29, 2015 05:06 PM CDTIt would generally be considered a pretty rare occurrence that the National Cattlemen's Beef Association finds itself in agreement with the group Food & Water Watch. But the two disparate groups nonetheless find themselves equally appalled at USDA for allowing imported beef from northern Argentina and 14 states Brazil known for FMD outbreaks.

Fri Jun 26, 2015 11:59 AM CDTLeaders from the group AGree this week called on Congress to take a top-to-bottom review of agricultural research in the country. AGree's leaders issued a paper breaking down issues surrounding research and development in agriculture and food production. The group AGree was formed to seek consensus among different stakeholders on policy areas important to agriculture.

Wed Jun 24, 2015 02:24 PM CDTSenate Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts and his committee's ranking member, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, head into a hearing Thursday clearly divided on the issue of country-of-origin labeling for meat. Roberts is pushing for full repeal of the labels while Stabenow is pitching a voluntary approach to the problem.

Tue Jun 16, 2015 08:44 AM CDTAhead of a scheduled June 25 public hearing in Kansas City, Kansas, on the Renewable Fuel Standard Iowa's Congressional delegation is asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to host a public hearing in Iowa.

Fri Jun 12, 2015 12:51 PM CDTThe House Energy and Commerce Committee will weigh in on the debate over biotech labeling laws next week with a hearing over legislation by Rep. Mike Pompeo, a Republican from Kansas.

Wed Jun 10, 2015 09:33 PM CDTThe House voted 300 to 131 to repeal country of origin labels for meat. While the bill now goes to the Senate, the House vote represents a victory for Canadian and Mexican livestock producers.